PULL OFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pull off mean? 

• PULL OFF (verb)
  The verb PULL OFF has 4 senses:

1. pull or pull out sharply

2. cause to withdraw

3. be successful; achieve a goal

4. remove by drawing or pulling

  Familiarity information: PULL OFF used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PULL OFF (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pull or pull out sharply

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

pick off; pluck; pull off; tweak

Context example:

pluck the flowers off the bush

Hypernyms (to "pull off" is one way to...):

draw; pull (cause to move by pulling)

Verb group:

draw away; draw off; pull off (remove by drawing or pulling)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pull off"):

tweeze (pluck with tweezers)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to withdraw

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

We pulled this firm off the project because they overcharged

Hypernyms (to "pull off" is one way to...):

remove (remove from a position or an office)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be successful; achieve a goal

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

bring off; carry off; manage; negociate; pull off

Context example:

The pianist negociated the difficult runs

Hypernyms (to "pull off" is one way to...):

bring home the bacon; come through; deliver the goods; succeed; win (attain success or reach a desired goal)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Remove by drawing or pulling

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

draw away; draw off; pull off

Context example:

draw away the cloth that is covering the cheese

Hypernyms (to "pull off" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Verb group:

pick off; pluck; pull off; tweak (pull or pull out sharply)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

They ’eld over in the ’opes that you’d pull off the fight this mornin’.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was long before Mr. Dick ever spoke to him otherwise than bareheaded; and even when he and the Doctor had struck up quite a friendship, and would walk together by the hour, on that side of the courtyard which was known among us as The Doctor's Walk, Mr. Dick would pull off his hat at intervals to show his respect for wisdom and knowledge.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Didn't I know it! But how little you think of the rightful umbleness of a person in my station, Master Copperfield! Father and me was both brought up at a foundation school for boys; and mother, she was likewise brought up at a public, sort of charitable, establishment. They taught us all a deal of umbleness—not much else that I know of, from morning to night. We was to be umble to this person, and umble to that; and to pull off our caps here, and to make bows there; and always to know our place, and abase ourselves before our betters. And we had such a lot of betters! Father got the monitor-medal by being umble. So did I. Father got made a sexton by being umble. He had the character, among the gentlefolks, of being such a well-behaved man, that they were determined to bring him in. “Be umble, Uriah,” says father to me, “and you'll get on. It was what was always being dinned into you and me at school; it's what goes down best. Be umble,” says father, “and you'll do!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)